1. A hobo whimsy best expressed by a musical and lyrical genius that is legendary and rich with sly legerdemain. A Gypsy talent.

2. A national treasure usually found roughing it among vagrant campfires, eating baked beans, singing verses of box cars and Martha, playing harmonica that is kept in his coat's breast pocket on cold nights.

3. A dancing set of bones--such as the Elephant Man--summoned up from the dead to take the listener on an eerie ride, i.e. the Gospel Train on Halloween.

"Tom Waits for no man. But I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." --Nick Cave to Henry Mancini

Gravel-voiced singer/songwriter from the 70's, 80's, 90's and today. His albums from the 1970's include music mostly from the jazz and folk background. (see Foreign Affairs, Closing Time) In the 1980's and early 1990's, Waits became more of a carnival-style poet, writing songs with crazy rhythms, archaic instruments, and mesmerizing lyrics. (see Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones, Bone Machine) Today, Waits has created an interesting mixture of all his previous styles, most apparent on the albums Blood Money and Mule Variations. His latest album, Real Gone, is made up of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and beats, dropping his lifelong instrument of choice, the piano. An indie-cult favorite.